Uncertainty
by Erin Kamikaze
Summary: To corroborate a cover-up, Jean is forced to get a bit closer to Armin than he is comfortable with. After said incident, Jean tackles his feelings for the blonde.
1. Meat

It all started with Sasha and her meat. She tempted Trainee Group 104 with tales of its juicy goodness, a demonic glint in her eyes. Some, like Annie and Mikasa, had deemed themselves too good for the fleshy ambrosia. Some, like Connie and Ymir, were a bit too impulsive, and therefore judged to be hazardous to the mission. The target was located in the kitchen, a mile walk from the barracks. Two soldiers of superior intellect and judgment were needed to carry out the sinful plan.

Which is why Jean and Armin found themselves faced with the challenge of picking a lock.

"The damn thing won't open!" Jean growled as he yanked on the padlock. The chains made a loud rattling, causing Armin to look around nervously. "Ummmm…. We should probably keep it down."

"Do you have any better idea how to pick a lock?" Jean demanded. "I might." The diminutive blonde pulled a bobby pin from his pants pocket. Jean snorted. "Let's just braid each other's hair while we're at it. Where did you even get that?"

"Mikasa." Armin inserted the bobby pin in the lock and jiggled it around. Cicadas chirped as the seconds dragged on. Jean looked around cautiously to see is anyone was coming. "Hey, are you done yet? Someone might-"

"We're in," Armin said as the lock popped open. Jean raised his eyes in surprise. _I really shouldn't be surprised though…_ Jean had always admired the blonde's resourcefulness. He himself was no idiot, but Armin's pure intellect and plan weaving were superior to just about everyone's. He would never admit this to the boy, though. Jean had some pride.

He slowly opened the door, wincing at the creak it made, and slipped inside with Armin in tow. The kitchen was a maze of counters and cooking ware. The two soldiers split up and combed the large room. Several minutes and stubbed toes later, he finally found what he was looking for: a large icebox. "Bingo," Jean whispered with a sense of achievement. He slowly opened the lid, and then slammed it shut as a loud bang sounded through the kitchen.

Jean whirled around and searched the darkness for the source of the noise. He could just make out Armin bending over on the floor. "What are you doing?" He hissed. "A pot was close to the edge and I knocked it over." More bangs came from Armin's side of the room and Jean sighed. _I swear, if we get caught because of his clumsiness…_

"Get over here, I've found what we're looking for," He called out to the blonde. He scurried over and Jean opened the icebox. Inside was the closest thing he had ever seen to a goddess. The pork loin was positively beautiful. Jean's mouth started to water as he imagined the possibilities. A glance at Armin confirmed the boy was thinking the same thing he was. Jean lifted the meat in the air and inspected it. It would taste good, but first they had to get it out. He shoved it at Armin. "Here, hide it under your shirt."

"Why me?" The smaller boy squeaked.

"Because you're so skinny you can hide it under your cloak and no one will notice." Armin thought about it for a second, and then nodded and grabbed the loin, tucking it safely under his cloak. Jean stood up and the two navigated their way out of the labyrinth, careful not to knock over anything else. As soon as they exited the door, he clicked the padlock shut and the two trainees stole into the night.

They ran for about a half a mile before they felt it. The forest was watching them. Every noise and every shadow was filled with malice. Jean and Armin began to fall prey to their fear. A bird suddenly taking off made Jean jump. Armin whimpered and pressed closer to Jean at a loud rustling in a nearby bush. Normally the taller boy would have pushed him away and made some comment about how clingy he was, but at the moment Jean was grateful for the human warmth Armin's body brought him.

After several minutes of this, the unnatural air seemed to intensify. The bird's noises seemed to transform into demonic cawing. The rustling started to sound like Titan footsteps, thumping slowly as the monsters made their way towards the two trainees. The air became cold and a wind started to whistle through the tall and foreboding trees, which leaned towards them as if they were trying to reach Jean and Armin with their spindly branch fingers. Armin started shivering violently and grabbed Jean's shirt front with his ice cold hands. "They broke inside the wall, didn't they?" He asked frantically. "The broke inside and now we're going to die. I don't want to die this way, Jean!"

"Shut up, we're not going to die," Jean snarled, but without any real anger. He too felt the hopelessness that Armin did. _It's just a creepy forest, it's just a creepy forest…._ he chanted in his head. But something told him the opposite, that they were in the maw of something ancient and malicious. He began to search the darkness around them. Suddenly they heard footsteps. "The titans are coming!" Armin practically shrieked. Jean swore that the forest was whispering, teasing and mocking them. It knew the two boys' time had come. They knew it was-

"What are you brats doing here?" Armin let out a scream and sobbed into Jean's chest. Standing behind them was Captain Levi.

XxX

Levi leaned across the desk, his facial expression deadpan. "So, do you want to tell me why you two were in the forest in the middle of the night?"

Jean and Armin sat across from the captain, a defeated look on their faces. _So close…_ Jean lamented. Any minute Levi could decide to search them and find the pork loin concealed under Armin's cloak. Jean silently cursed Sasha and her desire for meat. It was her fault for the whole incident, being such a glutton. It looked like a month of menial tasks for Armin and Jean. Jean wasn't so sure the frail boy could handle it, but it seemed like the only eventuality. _A month of privy duty for falling under the spell of gluttony._ There was just something shameful about being punished like that as a full-fledged soldier. They were screwed… unless they could make up a good enough story to trick Levi, a seemingly impossible task.

Jean sighed and prepared to give it his best shot. "Um… we were, we were just-"

"Jean and I are gay lovers sir!" If Jean had been drinking something at that moment he would have spewed it all over the desk. He turned to look at the blond but couldn't read Armin's expression. Jean turned to Levi with shock, waiting for his reaction to the boy's outrageous lie. Hewanted to die from embarrassment.

The captain merely raised his eyebrow. "And?" He asked. "What does that have to do with the situation?"

"Well, Jean and I were in the woods because we were passionately making love sir." A Titan. A Titan needed to break the roof above them, grab Jean, and bite his head off. Death was preferable to this mortification. He knew Levi would see through it immediately. He wasn't the type of guy to be messing around with another male. Armin did seem like that kind of guy if you squinted right, but Jean counted himself extremely straight in appearance. He glanced over desperately at the boy, but the soldier's face was determined. _Guess I better play along._

Levi stared at them for a moment. "Prove it," he simply said.

"You mean here on the desk, sir?" Armin asked nervously. It wasn't Jean who needed to be eaten by a Titan, it was Armin_. A 15-meter one,_ Jean decided. It would bite off the boy's head and stop the outpouring of slanderous words.

"Despite how… interesting that would be, I need this desk. Prove it some other way." This was the end. Jean didn't know any way out besides actually touching Armin in a romantic manner, which was not going to happen. Armin looked at him hesitantly. Jean gave him an angry stare back. He turned to Levi to tell him that Armin had lied when his head was whipped to the side. Lips pressed roughly against his. Jean floundered, trying to figure out what was happening, before realizing that Armin was kissing him. He felt weird at first, but chalked it up to the fact that he was being kissed by a guy. He expected it to be disgusting and emasculating, but to his surprise he found it to not be completely repulsive. _Well, if I'm already kissing this idiot, we'd better give the captain a show. _He leaned into the kiss and felt Armin jolt in surprise. Jean wrapped his arms around Armin and slowly brushed his tongue against the blonde's lower lip. Armin gave a small moan and Jean took that opportunity to force his tongue farther into his mouth. Jean snuck a look at Levi to gauge his reaction, but the captain still maintained his neutral expression. After what seemed like forever, the two broke apart. Levi watched them for a moment, then stood up. "I see. You two will be on dish duty tomorrow as punishment. Don't let me catch you again. With that, the two soldiers took their leave.

As soon as they were outside, Jean turned on Armin. "Gay lovers? GAY LOVERS?! Couldn't you think of something a bit less, I don't know, homosexual?"

"I panicked and couldn't think of anything else!"

"But still, why did you think of that?" Armin blushed. "I…. don't know"

"You might be that kind of guy, but I'm not." Jean waited for Armin to protest, but was surprised when the boy did not. Was that a confession or was he too shy to say anything. Jean turned away from him. "Well, it's not my business. And this gets mentioned to no one, understand?" Armin nodded.

XxX

As soon as the two trainees entered the barracks, Sasha was upon them. "Did you get it? Did you get it?" She asked frantically.

"Yeah we got it. And dish duty tomorrow," Jean said bitterly. Armin reached under his cloak and pulled out the meat, which Sasha grabbed. Connie walked up to them. "Why did you get dish duty? Did you get caught or something?" The boy asked curiously. Jean glanced at Armin. _Stick to the story._

"We got caught, but Captain Levi let us off easy." Armin said quietly. Connie whistled. "Captain Levi caught you? Man, you guys got lucky. I thought he would have punished you more. What did you tell him?"

"That we had gone for a midnight stroll," Jean broke in before Armin could answer. _They must not find out._ Jean could imagine their taunts, that HE had kissed another male. His reputation would be shot with his comrades.

"You guys got off easy," Eren said from one of the nearby tables. "Good job Armin." Jean bristled at his praise of the blond. "And what am I, chopped liver?"

"Armin was the one who obviously came up with the story and convinced the Captain. You would have just botched it up." Jean and Eren bickered for a bit before Mikasa walked into the common area. "You all should go to sleep. It's not a good idea to stay up late before a big mission." The soldiers saw the wisdom in her words and started towards the door. Jean waited until everyone had left and was about to leave the common area when Armin's voice stopped him. "Jean?" He turned around to look at the blond. "Yeah?" He asked cautiously. "Was I… was I a bad kisser?"

XxX

As Jean lay in bed trying to fall asleep, he replayed their conversation in his head. Amidst all the lies that night, he had told the boy the one word of truth.

_No._


	2. Confliction

_Chapter 51 of the manga really threw a wrench in my plotline for this story. It took me a week to figure out what the hell I was going to do. This story is going to be AU from Chapter 50 onward._

* * *

_Jean kissed Armin slowly, his fingers slowly trailing over the smaller boy's back. Armin gave out a small moan into Jean's lips and snuggled closer to him. He had the cutest moan; very soft and restrained, as if he was afraid to be heard making such noises. Jean broke the kiss and smiled at Armin, who hesitantly smiled back at him. He was so cute in the morning. Jean wanted to-_

"_Get up!" Jean was puzzled. Why was Armin telling him to get up? He pulled the blonde closer to him until their chests were pressed tightly together, and buried his face in the boy's hair. No, Jean was going to stay right where he was. He wasn't going to move an inch, even if-_

"Get up!" Jean's eyes shot open and stared into the face of an irate squad leader. "Who do you think you are, sleeping in like this?" The older man demanded angrily. Jean flushed in embarrassment once he realized the position he was in. "I'm sorry sir, I had problems sleeping last night. I always do before an expedition…," he said quietly. His squad leader's expression softened. "Just go to breakfast," he told Jean, who nodded frantically. "Of course, sir!"

As soon as his squad leader left, Jean jumped out of bed and began to throw on his clothes. _What was that dream?_ He wondered while buttoning up his shirt. Jean had never had a dream like that before. About anyone. He knew most boys his age had perverted minds and even more perverted subconsciouses, but for some reason he had never been one to fantasize about members of either sex, even Mikasa. And he was now thinking perverted thoughts about his fellow soldier. _That kiss yesterday must be the cause of this,_ he thought. Yes, Armin forcing himself on Jean yesterday had somehow confused him into thinking dirty things about the boy. Jean knew he would never have thoughts like that normally.

With that decided Jean threw on his uniform jacket and left the barracks.

Breakfast was a somber affair. It always was before a big expedition. As soon as Jean walked in, the entire mess hall turned to look at him. He uneasily navigated between the tables, conscious of all the eyes on him, and slid into his usual spot next to Connie. "Have a nice lie in?" Connie asked him cheekily. Jean scowled at him. "Thanks for waking me," he retorted sarcastically.

"I might've, but you never oversleep, so I thought you were just messing with us."

"I've had a lot of firsts, lately," he mumbled_. First kiss, first erotic dream, first time oversleeping…_ He didn't even know if his dream could be called erotic. All he and Armin did was kiss a little and lie in bed together. Jean didn't even remember if they were completely naked or not, although judging by the almost innocent theme of the dream they were most likely not. That made it even creepier. A hot and heavy dream he could chalk up to hormones, but the cuddling was a bit sickening to Jean's conscious mind.

"Are you going to eat that?" Sasha reached over Connie and grabbed Jean's roll, shoving it into her mouth. Jean stared at her wordlessly for a moment. "I was," he snarled. Sasha shrugged. "Too late." Connie gave out a snicker, but was quickly silenced when Sasha grabbed his roll too. "That's mine!" He shouted. Connie lunged at Sasha, but she dodged his hands. He fell over the bench and onto the floor. _Great,_ Jean thought miserably as their squad leader grabbed Connie by the collar and started shouting at him. Jean stood up and walked out, not wanting to witness the spectacle that was unfolding. He had better things to do, like preparing his horse. _Or some soul-searching bullshit._

He had traveled no farther than the door when a cold voice stopped him. "Going somewhere? I seem to remember you had dish duty." Jean turned to see Levi standing behind him. He sighed. "Yes Captain, I remember too." Jean swore he saw the ghost of a smile on the captain's lips.

XxX

As Jean scrubbed the dirty plates and bowls, he couldn't help but sneak glances at Armin, who was fast at work drying the dishes Jean had cleaned. The blonde gave every dish he received a meticulous drying, sometimes even rewashing parts that Jean had missed in his clumsy cleaning attempts. Jean's heart gave a little jump every time Armin gave a cute little frown when he discovered some discrepancy in his cleaning partner's work. _Okay, now I'm thinking weird stuff again. Think about… Mikasa._ Neither Mikasa nor Eren were going on the mission, although Jean was sure Mikasa would have pulled it off spectacularly. Eren… not so much. _Out of Eren, Mikasa, and Armin, Eren is definitely the worst at following orders. Now Armin on the other hand… That boy follows instructions to the letter. _Jean sighed when he realized his musing had gone back to Armin. _Great, now this again._

"Jean, you need to be more meticulous. People are going to be eating off these." Jean turned to see Armin holding a plate up, frowning in displeasure.

"Yeah, but there's only food on there. They are going to be eating the same food, so what's the problem?" Armin sighed at Jean's reasoning. The small sigh reminded Jean of the cute noises he had made in his dream the night before. He looked closely at Armin, examining his small frame. His dream was pretty accurate in regards to the boy's body, at least as far as Jean could tell. _I must have a pretty accurate imagination to notice details like that. If only I could see him without his shirt on to check,_ he mused. It came out a bit creepy, but was a platonic desire. Purely platonic. It was just a simple curiosity.

The silence was between Jean and Armin was getting rather awkward, so turned to the boy to make mindless chit chat. "Armin," he called out. Armin jumped in surprise, and brushed a stack of dried plates with his elbow. The fallen dishes fell to the ground and made a deafening crashing sound which reverberated throughout the room. Both boys stared at the plates until a kitchen worker came barging into the room. "What are you doing?!" He shouted at them. Armin's face turned chalk white and he spoke in a shaking voice. "I knocked over-"

"I did it." Both Armin and the kitchen worker turned to Jean. Jean didn't know why he even spoke. When he had seen Armin scared, he said the first thing that came to mind, which just happened to screw him over. Well, what was said was said. He just decided to go with it. "I elbowed the stack of dishes and knocked them over. I'll clean it up sir."

"Make sure you do." The man started walking away. "Wait!" Armin called out after him. He didn't turn around. "Why did you say that?" Armin asked Jean, confused.

"Because I frightened you when I said your name. It was my fault," Jean replied, liking the puzzled expression on the blonde's face. It made him seem childlike, innocent. But truthfully, Jean had no idea. Why did he take the blame? Armin gave him a relieved smile. "Thank you." Jean nodded, and they finished washing.

XxX

After they cleaned dishes, Jean dutifully trudged out to the stables to prepare his horse for the coming expedition, his thoughts full of the events of the past two days. _I seem to be spending an unusual amount of time with Armin lately…_ It wasn't that he disliked the boy- he actually hadn't given him much thought before, only paying attention to him when it involved Eren. He knew that Armin was smart but had no aptitude for combat, which had often made him a subject of ridicule among the others. Jean now felt a bit guilty for thinking of Armin as useless. _Maybe I should get to know him a bit better_. After all, Armin _had_ saved them from a worse punishment, so Jean owed him that much. Even if his story had been a bit… interesting.

His mount was tied up in a stall, slowly eating a bucket of oats. Jean had never bothered to give it a name. Despite Eren's jokes about his horseface, he felt no kinship with the animals. In fact, Jean truly despised horses, which is why he always dreaded going to the stables to take care of the beasts. He slowly approached his mount, which tensed up and gave him a dangerous look that said _Stay away from me or I'll kick you in a very sensitive spot. _Jean held up his hands. "Look, I need to brush you or you'll be in a very sore spot tomorrow," he warned the horse. It relaxed its stance but never took those beady eyes away from him. _I don't trust you either,_ he thought to himself. Jean had just pulled the brush out from the stall side when he heard a voice behind him. "Jean?" He turned around to see Eren, who also had a brush in hand.

"What are you doing here?" he asked the brunette, who scowled. "Same thing as you."

"Really? And here I thought you were just here to bother me," he said, goading Eren.

"Don't flatter yourself, horseface. I don't want to embarrass you in front of your family." Jean bit back a retort and instead remained silent. There was a tense silence until Eren walked a few stalls down and began brushing his own horse. They remained like this for several moments before Jean decided to ask a question that had been on his mind since dish duty that morning. "Hey Eren?"

"Yeah?"

"What's Armin really like?" Jean realized how stupid his question must seem to the brunette, but to learn more about Armin he had to directly ask the blonde's friends. A look of confusion crossed over Eren's face. "Armin?" he asked cautiously. "Yes, Armin. You know, blonde, short, pudgy nose?" Jean snapped at him.

"Oh course I know Armin, you idiot! But why do you want to know about him?"

_Actually, why do I want to know about him?_ "I was just wondering that's all." Eren gave him a warning look. "Listen, are you going to use this information to hurt him? Because if you are, I'm not telling you anything."

"No, I'm not going to hurt him. I'm just curious, that's all." Eren looked torn for a moment, then nodded. "All right, what do you want to know?"

"What type of person is he?" That seemed like a good place to start.

Eren looked deep in thought for a moment. "Well, Armin's smart. He's probably the most intelligent out of Trainee Group 104. I mean, you're not hard to beat, but still…" Eren searched Jean's face for a reaction, but he kept a calm mask, not wanting to antagonize Eren. "Continue," he ground out, hating to ask his rival for favors. Eren gave out a satisfied smile. "He's also really dependable. I trust him with my life." Jean was surprised by this. "With your life?"

"Yeah, Armin actually saved me and Mikasa once. The Colossal Titan had broken the gate and we had to go back there for…" a dark look crossed Eren's face, "…something. Armin went and told a soldier named Hannes, who saved us from a titan." Jean was curious about Eren's expression, having never seen him like that before. "Did you get what you were looking for?"

"No," Eren said in a strangled voice. _Okay, touchy subject._ "Back to Armin," Jean said. "So he saved your life?"

"Yeah, and he always has the best ideas. Remember that one time when I shifted into a Titan to move the rock? Armin was the one that came up with placing people on top of the wall to draw away the titans from me." Jean was impressed by that bit of news. "I had always thought it was Pixis," he admitted. "Nope, it was Armin," the brunette said with pride. "Armin's been my friend for as long as I can remember. We used to dream about the outside world together. Armin had these books from his grandfather that were all about the world before the titans came, and me and Armin would spend hours reading them. Because he read while everyone else was playing outside, they called him a bookworm and teased him a lot." Jean felt another stab of guilt at that bit of news, knowing that he had thought the same things.

He and Eren chatted about the blonde for a while until Jean realized he had been brushing the same spot for five minutes. His horse had never looked so clean. Jean stood up and walked over to where Eren was inspecting his saddle. "Hey Eren, thanks for telling me about Armin." Eren gave him a small smile. "You're not so bad after all, Jean. When you shut up, that is."

"And you're not so bad when you're not talking about how you're going to kill all the titans." They both gave a small chuckle at that, and Jean left the stable in high spirits, glad he had talked with Eren.

XxX

The slow sound of the gate opening chilled Jean's blood and at the same time excited him. It promised the death of friends, but also that a sense of freedom would be attained, even for a short while. He had grown up wishing for the safety of Wall Sina, but now relished the feeling of not being trapped by the walls, to be able to ride free and escape death time and time again. Jean knew that eventually his luck would run out and he would be eaten by a titan or would ride home in the cart under a sheet, but all he could do was hope it wouldn't be this time.

The faces of the other soldiers were fierce, determined. Jean often felt inadequate compared to them. They hid their fear so well and he was almost completely sure always he looked terrified. He glanced over to his left and saw one person who looked as scared as he felt: Armin. The blonde was clutching his horse's reins so tight his knuckles were white. Even though he looked vaguely sick, Armin still looked as resolute as the soldiers around him. _Eren was right; he is made out of tougher stuff than I thought._ He felt a spark of admiration for the boy. Hopefully he would survive the day so Jean could get the chance to know him a bit better.

When the gate was fully open, the Survey Corps raced through at a breakneck speed. As they thundered through, Jean carefully craned his neck to see the defense squad dealing with a 15-meter class a street over in the lonely ghost town. The titan slammed its fist down on a Survey Corps member, but the man jumped out of the way at the last moment, and a frail looking woman sliced the titan in its weak spot. It crumpled onto the ground, and the pair started to battle with another titan that had come up behind them while they were fighting the first.

"Keep your eyes forward, Kirstein." Jan tore his eyes away from the battle to look at his squad leader who was giving him a stern look. "Concentrate or you'll be eaten." Jean swallowed nervously and nodded. They rode through the ghost town for several minutes before finally breaking up into their formation. Jean and his squad rode towards their place in the rear on the right. He couldn't help but shoot a glance at Armin as the blonde rode out with his squad. _Please come back alive so I can apologize for thinking badly of you…_ A titan ran towards them from the side, its deformed body waddling as it rushed towards the squad. Jean urged his horse forward and before long it's gargantuan form receded into the distance.

In the next couple hours, Jean saw the usual carnage that came with an expedition. On their trek to the Forest of Giant Trees, he saw a man get torn in half by two titans fighting over his corpse, the intestines falling on the dried yellow grass. A woman was squeezed to death by a 10-meter class, blood squirting out from the broken body in the titan's hand. An entire squad was crushed under the feet on an Aberrant rushing towards the main formation. Despite viewing all this carnage, Jean knew he had to keep moving. He couldn't afford to stop and try to help; those men and women were soldiers and therefore expected to lay down their lives for the success of the mission. Even though he repeatedly told himself this, Jean couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt with every death he witnessed.

When the formation reached the Forest, Jean's squad leader slowed down. "All right, we're looking for traces of the traitors to humanity, Reiner Braun and Bertholdt Hoover." He told them. "This is merely a tracking mission. Report directly to me if you find something, and only engage titans in the most extreme of circumstances. Move out!" Jean's squad split up into two groups, Jean finding himself with Connie and some random guy he had never bothered to learn the name of. "So, do you think we'll find them?" Connie asked Jean softly, his face downcast.

"No, probably not. We won't find them if they don't want to be found," Jean told him. He understood how Connie was feeling. He too had been crushed when their former friends had turned out to be the very people who had broken down Wall Maria. Jean's sadness had eventually turned into bitter rage, but he knew that other boy was holding out hope that the whole situation was a sick joke. It was too bad that reality had to catch up to him.

"Then why are we doing this?! Some of us are going to die for nothing!" Jean sighed. "Some of us are going to die so Eren can live. The Military Police will have him executed in an instant if we can't turn something up. We have to take the risk, or it's all over." Connie stared forward angrily. "I don't see the logic in it, but then again I'm an idiot. I guess I have to leave all this brilliant planning to all of you and hope our superiors don't screw up." They rode in silence for a while, finding nothing, before Connie shouted.

"Oh my God, Jean!" Jean's head whipped around to where Connie was pointing about a hundred meters into the trees. A soldier was being lifted in the air by a titan, screaming and begging the monster for his life, but to no avail as the titan bit him in half. Jean's mouth opened to tell Connie to keep on moving when he saw something that made his heart sink. _He_ was lying on the forest floor, his blade outstretched as if it would be some defense against the titan that was slowly moving towards him now that it was done with the other soldier. Armin's face was contorted in terror at the creature that was about to end his life. Jean sat on his horse, unmoving, as he quickly thought about what to do.

_Keep on moving,_ His inner voice commanded him. He must keep on moving. The deaths of the soldiers were unfortunate, but necessary to the success of the mission.

_Keep on moving._

"Jean, we have to help Armin!" Connie shouted, and then noticed Jean was frozen. "What are you doing?"

_Keep on moving._ Jean had to move. It was unavoidable, but Armin was going to die so they could find the clues to save humanity. But it was Armin-

_Keep on moving._

He had to, but-

_Keep on moving._

He couldn't, he just couldn't, it was Armin lying there, and-

_Keep on moving._

The mission or Armin? It should be an obvious choice, he was going to have to leave Armin. Suddenly, he was reminded of his dream, of the boy's cute expressions, of the way he had said Jean's name smiled so softly, of how Jean wanted to-

"Fuck it!" Jean shouted, and steered his horse towards where Armin was about to get eaten. He jumped off his horse and propelled into the trees above the titan. He unsheathed his blades and swung behind the behemoth, slicing its weak spot in the back of the neck. The titan stood there for a minute, a perplexed expression on its face, before toppling to the ground, barely missing Armin. Jean landed on the forest floor and retrieved his horse from where it was standing, contently eating the grass. Armin was looking at him in confusion. "Jean…." The boy whispered. Jean spotted two more titans heading towards them from the left. "Shit," he muttered, relieved Armin was okay but was aware of the danger they were still in. He grabbed Armin and threw him over the saddle. "Hey!" The boy protested. Jean climbed up behind him and drove his horse to where Connie had been watching the scene unfold. "Armin!" Connie shouted in happiness.

"We have to get out of here, there's more coming," Jean warned him. A third titan had joined the two that were coming towards the party. Connie's face froze in terror and he nodded quickly. They quickly rode out to where the rendezvous with their squad leader was supposed to be, Armin still slung over the saddle.

* * *

Please give me suggestions as to how I can improve this story and myself as a writer. Feel free to drop a review or PM me if you don't want your critique where the whole world can see it. :)

Thanks for reading!


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